Single average Dutch people have nearly no chance of buying a home: Mortgage advisor

For single people with an average income, the chance of finding an affordable owner-occupied home in the Netherlands is virtually nonexistent, mortgage broker De Hypotheker concludes after research.

This is mainly because these potential home buyers are able to borrow less than last year due to the increase in mortgage interest rates. Only 1 percent of the complete housing supply is now accessible to this group, according to the mortgage organization. Last year this was still 3.3 percent and the year before 4.7 percent.

"The supply of affordable housing for this group has therefore fallen by 70 percent in one year," says De Hypotheker. Although two-income couples with an average income have more options, they also run up against the limits of the housing supply. Only 20 percent of the homes for sale are available to them.

The researchers mapped per region how many homes are accessible to singles and two-income couples with an average income. According to the Central Planning Bureau (CPB), such an income is 38,000 euros. With this salary, you can get a mortgage of approximately 171,000 euros as a single person, at the current market interest rate of 3.6 percent. "This is much less than last year, when single people with an average income could still borrow 188,000 euros," the mortgage lender says.

Dual-income households where both people earn such an income can now borrow about 304,000 euros. That is roughly 40,000 less than last year.

For average single earners, the available supply is most acute in Flevoland (0.1 percent), Noord-Brabant (0.1 percent) and Utrecht (0.2 percent). "Here, singles can barely get a foot in the door because of the sharp rise in house prices and the scarce supply." They have the best chance in Limburg (6 percent), Groningen (5 percent) and Zeeland (4 percent).

For average single earners who want to live in a bigger city, the chance of an affordable home is almost zero. There is no longer any supply available in Amsterdam and The Hague and a very modest percentage of homes are available in Eindhoven and Utrecht (0.2 percent). Rotterdam has the highest score of all major cities, but here too there is almost no housing available (0.5 percent).